In wake of Sandy, will national disaster fund sprout?

If storm wave keeps spreading, everyone will know Florida's pain

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the unifying cry across America was: "We are all New Yorkers."

New York and New Jersey are suffering again after Superstorm Sandy, but I can't help but think the new rallying cry should be, "We are all Floridians."

Florida is considered the irresponsible king when it comes to the risky mix of big storms and coastal development and dense population. But after two straight years of storms walloping the denser northeast, maybe it's time the calculations are adjusted.

Major storms are not just a Florida threat, or a Gulf Coast threat, or a Carolina threat.

We are all in Hurricane Alley now.

So can we have that talk about national catastrophe insurance once again?

"I think I'm going to make some calls to my former colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the next few months, because the climate might be right," Ron Klein told me.

Klein is the former Democratic congressman from Boca Raton who pushed hard for a national catastrophe fund before he was beaten by Allen West in 2010. Klein's bill got through the House, but was never heard in the U.S. Senate.

"There would have been no taxpayer money involved," said Klein. His plan had support from some Republicans and major insurers such as State Farm and Allstate, but was opposed by the re-insurance industry, which sells insurance to insurers.

Klein's bill called for a federally run, privately funded bonding system for states that wanted to pool risks for hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and earthquakes. It wouldn't have touched the federal flood insurance program, which is in the red and under fire from conservatives who say government shouldn't be in the insurance business.

The problem is that the insurance business increasingly doesn't want to be in the insurance business, cherry-picking its way to all gain and little pain.

We in Florida know this, as our insurance situation has become an expensive mess since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Big private insurers have bailed out, small insurers have gone bust and legislators created a state-run insurer of last resort, Citizens, which has swollen to the state's largest.

Klein noted the federal flood program began in the 1960s after private insurers stopped covering floods because of the risk and expense. In Florida, private insurers carved out wind damage from policies, then simply pulled out of certain areas.

"The insurance companies kept separating out the risk," said Klein, a former state legislator. "I understand that they're trying to protect themselves, but the problem is homeowners insurance is not an optional thing. If you have a mortgage, you have to have it."

Klein said he foresees insurers in New York and New Jersey acting like they did in Florida after Andrew.

"There's going to be shellshock for homeowners," Klein said. "Big premium increases, a big shakeup in the market, a lot of instability.

To make matters worse, some industry experts and analysts say Sandy could bring higher insurance rates to South Florida homeowners because of a spike in re-insurance costs for insurers.

Of course. If a butterfly flaps its wings or a cow passes gas, our rates go up.

The only satisfaction: A few more Sandys across the map, and everyone else will know what it's like to be a Floridian.